Changwon Special City Launches Full-Scale Efforts to Attract Medical School

Formation of Medical School Attraction Planning Team to Fulfill 30-Year Aspiration

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Song Jong-gu] The long-cherished project of attracting a medical school in Changwon Special City, Gyeongnam, which has been awaited for 30 years, is set to begin in earnest.

Changwon City formed the 'Changwon Medical School Attraction Planning Team' on January 31 and held its first meeting to discuss detailed promotion strategies and establish a roadmap for attraction activities.

Changwon Special City Hall, Gyeongnam.
Photo by Se-ryeong Lee

This planning team was formed following Mayor Hong Nam-pyo's declaration at last month's New Year press conference that the city would embark on full-scale efforts to attract a medical school starting this year to enhance Changwon's status and urban dignity. To actively cooperate with Gyeongnam Province, Kim Byung-kyu, the province's Deputy Governor for Economic Affairs, serves as co-head, and Jo Myung-rae, the 2nd Deputy Mayor of Changwon Special City, leads the planning team as the general director.

The medical school attraction planning team, organized as a temporary special task force (TF), includes seven departments related to education, industry, urban planning, health, and public relations. They plan to unite the strong public desire for establishing a medical school, form a powerful consensus, and add meticulous justification to raise the voice demanding the establishment of a medical school to the central government.

Changwon, the only city with a population over one million outside the metropolitan area without a medical school and the leading city of Gyeongnam, has had the attraction of a medical school as a long-standing wish of not only Changwon citizens but all Gyeongnam residents for over 30 years. Considering the president's promise to open an era of livable local cities everywhere and recent trends in government ministries such as the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Education regarding the expansion of medical school quotas, Changwon City judges that now is the right time to attract a medical school.

Mayor Hong said, “Changwon City's efforts to attract a medical school have continued since the 1990s but have repeatedly failed due to various external conditions. Centered on this planning team, we will do our best to attract a medical school through all-around cooperation with the political sphere, academia, local medical community, and industry to realize citizens' health rights and the right to be educated in excellent facilities, and furthermore, to raise the pride of Changwon Special City citizens.”